-
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
-
God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
-
Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so.
-
The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
-
And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so.
-
Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground,
-
Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
-
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
-
The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.
-
(The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.)
-
The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.
-
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
-
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
-
Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
-
So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
-
So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.
-
The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”
-
Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
-
The Fall
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
-
but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
-
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.
-
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
-
And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
-
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
-
To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
